Campus Tension at LPU After Unverified Claims Spark Student Protest

Hundreds of students at Lovely Professional University in Phagwara came together near the girls’ hostels in the early hours of Sunday. Messages had started spreading on social media claiming a female student was sexually assaulted by an outsider. What began as students asking for answers soon got out of hand. By the early hours of 27 September 2026, windows were broken, flower pots lay smashed, entrance gates were damaged and some objects on campus had been set on fire. Students also blocked the Jalandhar-Phagwara national highway and traffic came to a standstill for a while. Police got word around 1.45 am that students had gathered and blocked a road. Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Toora later told reporters the claims were only rumours. “When we reached here, we came to know that there were rumours. Because of the rumours, students gathered here,” he said. Toora made it clear that police had received no complaint of any such crime before this and had not found solid evidence so far. A few students also connected the rumours to a suicide that happened near the campus agriculture department a few days earlier, but police said there was no confirmed link. DIG Jalandhar Range Naveen Singla said his team had taken statements from the students and started the process of registering an FIR against unknown persons on the basis of those accounts. He also mentioned that student leaders and the university management were due to sit down together to talk about the issues. The situation was brought under control, the highway was cleared and officials began checking the damage to property. Lovely Professional University rejected the claims outright. Registrar Monica Gulati said there is “no truth in the rumours presently being circulated.” The university called the information false and fabricated and pointed to anti-social elements who, according to them, used social media to create confusion. Officials asked students, parents and the public to trust only the university’s official channels and not to forward unverified messages. This kind of incident hits hard for students who live far from home. Young women staying in hostels especially feel the weight of such stories. When videos of broken gates and blocked roads start circulating, parents naturally start asking how fast the university can check facts, speak clearly and deal with complaints before things escalate. Teachers and administrators now have the job of calming the campus while also looking again at security and how internal complaints are handled. One message on a phone can pull a large group together in a few hours. That is the reality now. Students need to get better at checking what they read, and universities need to get information out quickly and clearly. As police keep looking into the matter and the university talks with student representatives, the main task is simple: help everyone on campus feel safe again so classes and daily life can get back to normal.